i live in washington, dc there is essentially no recession in washington. certainly not in the government sector so for the president to give a raise if a situation where most americans have not gotten a raise at all it looks bad and particularly bad at a time when the government seems to be frozen. >> a lot of people may argue that congress does not deserve a raise considering this fiscal cliff situation and the breaking news is no voice in the house tonight. how will it end up? >>reporter: it will end up how we have always known which is republicans are going to agree to an increase in the tax rates for the highest earners. in exchange they will not get a lot. but there will be an agreement. they are haggling over the amount, $250,000 to $400,000, around that and concerns about sequestration cuts. i have talked to senator whose say they could live with the taxes but the automatic across-the-board cuts especially in defense, because the sequestration cuts are divides half between defense and half the rest of discretionary spending, that is disproportionate